Birthday Time
by MarkTurner
Summary: Maia's birthday leaves everyone with a headache. Set sometime after series 2.


Disclaimer - I definately don't own these characters. Only the story.

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The Theory Room, as usual, hummed with the sounds of computers and people standing around thinking. Marco looked across at Diana and scratched his head.

"Okay, let's see if I've got this straight. You want to me to use my valuable time and NTAC resources to find a way to surprise someone who can accurately predict the future?"

Diana nodded. "Got it in one."

"Should I even ask why?"

"You see Marco, it's Maia's birthday soon and you know how the last one went," she took a small step forwards and leaned against a desk, "and she's just a child. All children should have surprises on their birthday. I'm sure she enjoyed her presents and our day at the beach but it would have been even better if she hadn't already known about it. Hell, she had her bucket and spade packed the day before, and asked April a week before that to buy her one!"

She knew Marco would help her. He had risked his job to do her favours in the past. She wasn't disappointed.

"Okay, okay," he replied sitting himself down in his work chair, "let me have a think about it. Though I think you would have an easier time sneaking up on a rabbit. You might have to learn to accept that she can just _see_ anything that is going to happen, and just do the best you can. Can't you ask her not to _look_?"

Diana shrugged. "I don't think it's just as simple as closing her eyes. She says sometimes it is almost like seeing with two sets of eyes at once. She can't always choose what she sees - sometimes she sees things even when she is asleep - and all it would take is one glimpse of where we are going or what I am going to get her and the surprise would be ruined."

Marco rested his head on his hand, stared at his blank computer screen, and thought. He was good at thinking. Even from a young age he had always enjoyed thinking and solving problems, and now was no different. In fact it was his job. Recently, thoughts about the future had rarely been far from his mind anyway. After a while he looked up again.

"Right, let's think this through," he started, standing up and pacing around the room without even realising it. "We know Maia can predict the future, so that means there must be some sort of inevitability to events. No matter what gift we think about and come up with, whatever we choose will be inevitable and so we will come to the same outcome that Maia sees. We are all part of this timeline so there is nothing any of us can do to influence it."

Diana nodded slowly, hoping that by the time she finished her nodding she would have understood the first sentence. It didn't happen.

"So what does that mean?" she asked. "Is it impossible?"

"Yes, definitely. Impossible, unless you live in the future and the events you want to change are already in your past. Unless..."

"Unless..." Diana motioned for him to continue.

"Did you say that not everything that Maia sees has to happen?" he asked.

"I've explained it before. It seems as though she can't change any of the major 'visions' of the future she gets, but she can change the little things. You agreed that if there was nothing she could change there would be no ripple effect right?"

"Right, so in fact, the only person who could create a birthday full of surprises for Maia, is Maia herself."

He sat back down in his chair. Problem solved. He looked up at Diana and saw that she quite obviously hadn't figured it out yet. He sighed. His Theory Room colleagues were some of the rare few people he didn't need to explain something exceedingly slowly to.

Diana spoke up before he had chance to explain further. "So I need to get Maia to buy her own presents? That's just as bad!"

"Not if she doesn't know she is doing it." He waited for a few moments. "Make a list of all the possibilities you can think of and make sure you are willing to do or buy anything on the list. Then ask her to predict something involving a number from somewhere further in the future than her birthday. Once you have then bought what is on the list, she should still have seen what you would have chosen, but now you will have made your decision based on knowledge not belonging to the normal timeline."

Diana gave him a hug. "Marco you're a genius, thank you."

She quickly left the room to start making her list. She popped her head back through the doorway only a few seconds later and added, "Could you write that down?"

She really had no idea what possessed her to put 'Cat' on her list of possible ideas. At the time she thought that it would be good for Maia to have a cat to look after because she was at home so much while she was at work, and it would be good to give her some responsibilities. Now the prospect of actually buying one on their return trip seemed slightly more daunting. Still, it had to be better than doing something predictable.

She knocked quietly on Maia's door and peered inside.

"Maia," she whispered, "wake up, it's your birthday!"

"Hurray!" she leapt out of bed, obviously having been just pretending to be asleep and launched herself at her mom, "Did I get any presents?"

"Did you not _see_ anything?" Diana asked curiously. She never doubted Marco for a second but if it actually worked...

Maia shook her head.

"Well in that case," she continued, "I'm sure there are presents waiting for you somewhere, but I've managed to get some time off work for now. What do you say to a trip to Disney Land!"

Maia hugged her mom again. "That sounds great, thank you!"

"You're welcome sweetie, now go and put some things in a suitcase and I'll go and do the same." She had wanted to make as few preparations as possible to try and hide what she had planned. She left the room to leave Maia to her packing.

Success.

Once her mom had gone from the room Maia pulled an already packed suitcase out from under her bed with a Disney Land brochure on top. 'Really,' she thought, hiding the brochure back under her bed, 'they have no idea at all about how the future works. Oh well. I wonder if Aunt April likes cats too?'


End file.
